Los Angeles daily herald., 1887-09-06
DAILY HERALD.
STAGE CHILDREN.
How thc Little Ones are Supplied
IN Managers.

A prand-child of William H. Van
derbilt once entered with some OF the
children of poor people l had trained
for the stage. Wasn't that democratic ?
There was a little girl who lives in lux
ury. and will one day be worth hun
dreds of thousands of dollars appear
ing with little boys and girls who will
have to earn every dollar they will
ever possess. 1t was MAY Blossom"
in which this illustration of democratic
equality occurred. Little Miss Webb
She was the daughter of DIR. and
Mrs. Webb, who later was Miss Flor
ence Vanderbilt-had been trained for
some children's private theatricals,
and she begged her parents so hard to
let her appear at a real performance"
that they finally allowed her to.
The speaker was an actress, who at
one time was known as the best first
old woman" in the profession, and
who to-day would find engagements
as readily as she ever did. But she
devotes herself now almost exclu-
sively to the training of children.
asked her how she had hit upon the
idea OF giving her attention to that
particular branch OF theatrical man.
agement.
because, she replied, "my ex-
perience as an actress on the road and
in New York showed me that any one
who made a system of furnishing and
training children for theatrical pro-
ductions would start business that
must soon thrive, if properly con-
Quoted. l had observed that man.
ayers were 10th to produce plays
which called for the employment of
children, and that thus a number of
good old plays, and some more recent
dramatic writing that had elements OF
strength and profit in them, were
neglected. Managers actually pre-
ferred to risk bringing out plays not so
strong as some OF those with chill
dren's parts to producing one OF the
latter"
; What was the cause of this indif-
ference to the possible capture of the
nimble dollar?"
"Oh! Managers are not Indifferent
to the nimble dollar. They are almost
as active in pursuing it as you news
paper men. But children were such
q nuisance about theatre, and the
whole process of engaging, rehearsing
and looking after them involved so
much trouble that managers would
rather have foregone some possible
profits than bother with children
and their mothers"
"Ah! l see. The parent that imag-
ined her offspring an incipient Ham
let or 'Desdemona' was bore ?"
ga bore? A positive nuisance; and
worst of all, one you couldn't call
upon the board of health to abate.
But (proudly) have abated it."
"You are sort Of theatrical board
of health"
''Perhaps so. I'll accept your hy-
pothesis and describe to you the nuis.
ance and my method of abating it
Managers. as told you, were 10th to
bother with plays which called fol
children. Why? To begin with, if {
manager wanted to fill one child's
part in play he was obliged
to advertise. AS likely as not one
hundred and fifty mothers woulC
turn up with their families. For ever
if the manager had advertised for {
boy or girl about six years old, moth
ers would bring the fruit of the family
tree, ranging from the blossom tha
still clung to the stem (that is the
baby in arms) to the prize cucumbel
fthat is the long and green youths an(
maidens of fifteen and even sixteen)
1 wouldn't mind facing hundred ant
fifty mothers-for Pm a mother my
self. But a manager is a man;
timid, shrinking man. He would set
tie a hundred and fifty fathers in
short time, but it would take hin
hours to pour oil upon the troubled
waters of maternal protests. HI
would try to save himself trouble by en-
gaging the first likely-looking child il
ths- string. But tina. was when tn,
hundred and forty-two mothers would
all talk at once. Even precipitat'
flight was no assurance of safety. Th,
manager, ON returning to the theate
some hours later. could find the enemy
still holding the fort. l would advise
manager who is foolish enough no
to employ me, to have the mothers
and children gather ON the Harlem
hais, and carry on negotiations with
them from a tugboat, and make dash
for the East river when the business
was over"
suppose you save managers the
bother you described?'
"Yes, and more bother than that
For the real trouble begins after the
children have been engaged. You see
they have to be trained. Of course
the mothers insist on being present al
rehearsals. Let the stage manager
speak cross word to Il child, and
presto he is faced by fury There is
arrow. and the rehearsal is interrupted
much to the discontinue of the actors
and the actresses, who are annoyed al
so much loss of time"
"Why isn't the child dismissed al
once?"
Because then there would be the
bother of selecting and advertising all
over again. But the mothers don't
stop at attending rehearsals. They
insist on being present and behind the
scenes at the performances. They
crowd into the front entrance, from
which they can get good view of the
stage. Now fancy an actor having to
make an entrance or exit through &
crowd of intent mothers %
"And how do you save managers
all these varieties Of bother? How dc
you actually crush the pride of the
mother of an alleged incipient genius p
THAT was the very first requisite tC
success in my enterprise. | felt tina
if l could save managers the bother o
engaging and rehearsing children they
would no niger be shy OF plays which
called for children. think my sue
cess largely due to the fact that bein,
mother, L can successfully confron
mothers. l have made the employ
ment of children for the stag,
= very simple matter for managers
/ have here an address book with tn,
names, addresses and special qualifi
cations of several hundred children
Two-thirds of the number have al